It would be fair to say that French carnivores are in love with lamb. My favorite Parisian butcher has daily deliveries, and everyone in the neighborhood buys it.
Of course, the customers are there for the show as well. The man is a maestro. With a knife and a cleaver, he can break down a lamb to primal parts in minutes; he will tell you that each part has its virtues.
The shoulder is good for braising or roasting. Neck makes great stews. The rack is a deluxe cut, for roasting rare or for chops, and the saddle, a boneless loin roast, makes an impressive high-end splurge, or it can be cut into loin chops. Lamb shanks are popular, and even the feet are used for a certain Provençal specialty.
The iconic meal is a roasted leg, a must-have for special occasions, especially Easter. No proper French dinner of this sort would be correct without un bon gigot served with a side of skinny green beans.
But another traditional springtime lamb dish worth knowing is navarin. It is essentially a braise made of lamb shoulder with white wine, garlic and thyme, preferably accompanied by a colorful bouquet of just-picked spring vegetables, including, if at all possible, tender young turnips. To fill out the picture, add fava beans, baby carrots and fennel, and, if spring has been especially kind, sweet green peas and asparagus tips.
It sounds more complicated than it is. The lamb braise takes only an hour or so, and it can be made the day before.
The vegetables can be prepped, and even par-cooked, a few hours in advance. To keep them looking fresh and vibrant, I like to stew the vegetables separately in butter just before serving, rather than cooking them in the pot with the meat, and finish them with lemon zest and parsley.
This is, of course, old-school French cooking. If you want to give the navarin a bit of spice, a little toasted cumin and hot pepper may give it more modern appeal. Go ahead and add them. You can bet that a lot of Parisian cooks these days are tweaking traditional dishes, too.
Recipe: Lamb Ragout With Spring Vegetables
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